Interventions, policies, and future research directions in partner violence

There have been sweeping changes in policy and practice on violence against intimate partners over the past several decades. New laws, policies, programs, and research funding have shaped the literature on this topic as well as the contours of violence itself. A substantial portion of the contemporary research literature is devoted to the policies and interventions that affect intimate partner violence. This chapter will first review key policy changes that have shaped interventions in violence against intimate partners. Second, it will map major areas of research on policy and intervention in violence and abuse. Finally, it will propose directions for future research.

Promoting and maintaining physical activity in the transition to retirement: A systematic review of interventions for adults around retirement age

It has been argued that transition points in life, such as the approach towards, and early years of retirement present key opportunities for interventions to improve the health of the population. Research has also highlighted inequalities in health status in the retired population and in response to interventions which should be addressed. We aimed to conduct a systematic review to synthesise international evidence on the types and effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity among people around the time of retirement. A systematic review of literature was carried out between February 2014 and April 2015. Searches were not limited by language or location, but were restricted by date to studies published from 1990 onwards. Methods for identification of relevant studies included electronic database searching, reference list checking, and citation searching. Systematic search of the literature identified 104 papers which described study populations as being older adults. However, we found only one paper which specifically referred to their participants as being around the time of retirement. The intervention approaches for older adults encompassed: training of health care professionals; counselling and advice giving; group sessions; individual training sessions; in-home exercise programmes; in-home computer-delivered programmes; in-home telephone support; in-home diet and exercise programmes; and community-wide initiatives. The majority of papers reported some intervention effect, with evidence of positive outcomes for all types of programmes. A wide range of different measures were used to evaluate effectiveness, many were self-reported and few studies included evaluation of sedentary time. While the retirement transition is considered a significant point of life change, little research has been conducted to assess whether physical activity interventions at this time may be effective in promoting or maintaining activity, or reducing health inequalities. We were unable to find any evidence that the transition to retirement period was, or was not a significant point for intervention. Studies in older adults more generally indicated that a range of interventions might be effective for people around retirement age.

Public Demand for Safer Speeds: Identification of Interventions for Trial

Speeding is a major contributor to road injuries and fatalities and remains prevalent. Changing community perceptions about speeding is an important priority. Austroads commissioned research to identify a range of potential interventions for future trial and evaluation aimed at creating, increasing, and/or sustaining public demand for safer speeds. This project had three phases: a literature review; consultations with key stakeholders regarding intervention options (including feasibility, and likely benefits and costs of identified interventions); and providing research results, including recommendations for future phases of the program of work. The literature review led to the development of a draft Campaign Strategy targeting nine aims across three themes underpinning this research: 1) creating, 2) increasing, and 3) sustaining public demand for safer speeds on the road. Twenty-one stakeholders commented on the suitability and feasibility of, and likely barriers to, countermeasures within the draft Campaign Strategy and its applicability to the Australian and New Zealand context. There was overwhelming positive support for the proposed Campaign Strategy by the majority of respondents; many, noting that it addressed key misperceptions and complemented many existing approaches. A small number of respondents expressed some concerns with various aspects. Stakeholder feedback was incorporated into the final proposed Campaign Strategy to enhance its potential effectiveness. Wide diversity across jurisdictions makes the recommendation of individual interventions for specific areas problematic. Individual jurisdictions should consider a range of costs and benefits of the proposed Campaign Strategy to determine the likely feasibility from their unique perspective. Issues to be addressed when considering implementation of the proposed Campaign Strategy include speed limit setting policies, resourcing, messaging and advertising strategies, and political will associated with promoting safer speeds.

Family-based interventions in preventing children and adolescents from using tobacco: A systematic review and meta-analysis

- Background Tobacco is the main preventable cause of death and disease worldwide. Adolescent smoking is increasing in many countries with poorer countries following the earlier experiences of affluent countries. Preventing adolescents starting smoking is crucial to decreasing tobacco-related illness. - Objective To assess effectiveness of family-based interventions alone and combined with school-based interventions to prevent children and adolescents from initiating tobacco use. - Data Sources 14 bibliographic databases and the Internet, journals hand-searched, experts consulted. - Study Eligibility Criteria, Participants, and Interventions Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with children or adolescents and families, interventions to prevent starting tobacco use, follow-up ≥ 6 months. - Study Appraisal/Synthesis methods Abstracts/titles independently assessed and data independently entered by two authors. Risk-of-bias assessed with the Cochrane Risk-of-Bias tool. - Results Twenty-seven RCTs were included. Nine trials of never-smokers compared to a control provided data for meta-analysis. Family intervention trials had significantly fewer students who started smoking. Meta-analysis of twoRCTs of combined family and school interventions compared to school only, showed additional significant benefit. The common feature of effective high intensity interventions was encouraging authoritative parenting. - Limitations Only 14 RCTs provided data for meta-analysis (about 1/3 of participants). Of the 13 RCTs which did not provide data for meta-analysis eight compared a family intervention to no intervention and one found significant effects, and five compared a family + school intervention to a school intervention and none found additional significant effects. - Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings There is moderate quality evidence that family-based interventions prevent children and adolescents starting to smoke.

Unbounding the interaction design problem: The contribution of HCI in three interventions for well-being

In this paper we consider HCI's role in technology interventions for health and well-being. Three projects carried out by the authors are analysed by appropriating the idea of a value chain to chart a causal history from proximal effects generated in early episodes of design through to distal health and well-being outcomes. Responding to recent arguments that favour bounding HCI's contribution to local patterns of use, we propose an unbounded view of HCI that addresses an extended value chain of influence. We discuss a view of HCI methods as mobilising this value chain perspective in multi-disciplinary collaborations through its emphasis on early prototyping and naturalistic studies of use.

The social marketing theory-based (SMT) approach for designing interventions

- Purpose Despite the importance of theory as a driving framework, many social marketers either fail to explicitly use theory as the basis of designing social marketing interventions or default to familiar theories which may not accurately reflect the nature of the behavioural issue. The purpose of this paper is therefore to propose and demonstrate the social marketing theory (SMT)-based approach for designing social marketing interventions, campaigns or tools. - Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper proposes a four-step process and illustrates this process by applying the SMT-based approach to the digital component of a social marketing intervention for preventing domestic violence. - Findings For effective social marketing interventions, the underpinning theory must reflect consumer insights and key behavioural drivers and be used explicitly in the design process. - Practical implications Social marketing practitioners do not always understand how to use theory in the design of interventions, campaigns or tools, and scholars do not always understand how to translate theories into practice. This paper outlines a process and illustrates how theory can be selected and applied. - Originality/value This paper proposes a process for theory selection and use in a social marketing context.

Reducing luminance contrast on the window wall and users’ interventions in an office room

High luminance contrast between windows and surrounding surfaces could cause discomfort glare, which could reduce office workers’ productivity. It might also increase energy usage of buildings due to occupants’ interventions in lighting conditions to improve indoor visual quality. It is presumed that increasing the luminance of the areas surrounding the windows using a supplementary system, such Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), could reduce discomfort glare. This paper reports on the results of a pilot study in a conventional office in Brisbane, Australia. The outcomes of this study indicated that a supplementary LED system could reduce the luminance contrast on the window wall from values in the order of 24:1 to 12:1. The results suggest that this reduction could significantly reduce discomfort glare from windows, as well as diminishing the likelihood of users’ intention to turn on the ceiling lights and/ or to move the blind down.

Posters versus lurkers. Improving participation in enterprise social networks through management interventions

This thesis investigated the phenomenon of underutilised Enterprise social networks (ESNs). Guided by established theories, we identified key reasons that drive ESN members to either post (i.e., create content) or lurk (i.e., read others' content) and examined the influence of three management interventions - aim to boost participation - on lurkers' and posters' beliefs and participation. We test our model with data collected from 366 members in Google⁺ communities in a large Australian retail organization. We find that posters and lurkers are motivated and hindered by different factors. Moreover, management interventions do not – always – yield the hoped-for results among lurkers.

Systematic review of interventions to improve the provision of information for adults with primary brain tumours and their caregivers

Background: Adults with primary brain tumors and their caregivers have significant information needs. This review assessed the effect of interventions to improve information provision for adult primary brain tumor patients and/or their caregivers. Methods: We included randomized or nonrandomized trials testing educational interventions that had outcomes of information provision, knowledge, understanding, recall, or satisfaction with the intervention, for adults diagnosed with primary brain tumors and/or their family or caregivers. PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Reviews databases were searched for studies published between 1980 and June 2014. Results: Two randomized controlled, one non-randomized controlled, and 10 single group pre-post trials enrolled more than 411 participants. Five group, four practice/process change and four individual interventions assessed satisfaction (12 studies), knowledge (four studies) or information provision (2 studies). Nine studies reported high rates of satisfaction. Three studies showed statistically significant improvements over time in knowledge and two showed greater information was provided to intervention than control group participants, although statistical testing was not performed. Discussion: The trials assessed intermediate outcomes such as satisfaction, and only 4/13 reported on knowledge improvements. Few trials had a randomized controlled design and risk of bias was either evident or could not be assessed in most domains.

Decreasing luminance contrast on window walls as well as users’ interventions: Using LED lighting system

Mr Mehdi Amirkhani presented his research and case studies on improved lighting design in commercial spaces through daylight control and innovative lighting placement. This technical meeting was organised by IESANZ Queensland Chapter on April 7, 2016.